F-M girls lacrosse has 2-1 week

By now, the refrain is familiar in local Class A girls lacrosse circles – who, if anyone, could stand up to and take down West Genesee?

Fayetteville-Manlius is among the teams eager to go after the reigning state Class A champions, and got a face-to-face encounter with the Wildcats last Tuesday night on the F-M home turf.

It proved to be a tough, hard-working affair, exactly what the Hornets had in mind, even if the result wasn’t ideal as WG prevailed by a score of 10-6.

Going in, F-M wasn’t in ideal shape, having squandered a four-goal halftime lead in a 14-13 loss to Suffern on April 6. What’s more,in its previous three games (including wins over Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool), the Wildcats had not allowed a single goal in the first half.

F-M broke that spell, three times putting shots past WG goalie Andrea Francisco. Yet the Hornets gave up twice as many, so it trailed 6-3 at halftime.

Throughout the second half, F-M made sure the Wildcats did not get away, and for that it could thank goalie Aubrey Devreau, who turned back 16 of the 26 shots she faced.

Lindsey Trachtenberg managed three goals and one assist, while Sam Hotchkiss had a goal and two assists. Marri Ryu and Olivia Tejan had the other goals. For WG, Alia Hildebrandt, with three goals and one assist, and Hannah Elmer, with two goals and one assist, led the way.

Steeled by this effort, F-M went out on Friday night and took Central Square apart, rolling to an 18-1 victory to break its two-game skid.

It was 11-0 by halftime, the Hornets getting 11 different players to put in goals. Trachtenberg, Hotchkiss and Cara Esposito each had three-goal hat tricks, with Hotchkiss adding two assists.

With no time to rest, the Hornets were back on the field Saturday, facing Fairport (Section V), and controlling the game from start to finish as it pounded the Red Raiders 10-3.

F-M broke out early, leading 8-2 at the break, and Fairport never recovered, in part because the Hornets’ defense shut down anything the Red Raiders tried to establish and got terrific effort from Devreau, who had 12 saves.

Trachtenberg led that breakout, outscoring the Red Raiders by herself with four goals and one assist. Esposito and Hotchkiss each found the net twice as Primo and Tejan earned one goal apiece and Fero added an assist.

Now the Hornets (3-2) would go for three in a row Tuesday, at Auburn, returning home Friday for a clash with Liverpool.